10 Film Scenes That Broke The Camera

The Dark Knight was the first major film to be shot with IMAX cameras, and it in turn marked the first of Nolan's many trashings of the precious equipment.

While filming the tunnel sequence where The Joker (Heath Ledger) assails a S.W.A.T. convoy carrying Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), one of the IMAX cameras covering the action was destroyed in a vehicular mishap.

Details beyond this are relatively scarce, and some sources even claim the camera was actually destroyed in the scene's unforgettable truck flip climax, but given that all the in-film coverage of the truck flip is at a considerable distance, that doesn't seem terribly likely.

Behind-the-scenes footage shows numerous cameras mounted on arms being raced through the tunnel at high speed, so it absolutely tracks that this is how the IMAX camera was obliterated. 

At the time The Dark Knight was being filmed there were only four IMAX cameras in existence, and so this single calamity took out 25% of their capacity in one fell swoop.

Given all the good the movie ultimately did for the IMAX brand, though, they clearly didn't take it personally.